


Scattered Gumballs

by ladygray99



Series: Gumballs [1]
Category: Numb3rs
Genre: Cross-Posted on Tumblr, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-05
Updated: 2009-12-05
Packaged: 2017-10-04 04:28:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladygray99/pseuds/ladygray99
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Charlie has a bit of a tantrum, Colby tries to help. Pre-Slash moment.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Scattered Gumballs

**Author's Note:**

> This was my very first Numb3rs story.

Colby was just dropping off papers.  It was just a quick stop. Drop off the files, maybe grab a gumball.  The scene Colby walked into he could only describe as a math tantrum.  He'd seen Charlie work at a board dozens of times, fast for himself, slower for his students, even slower for FBI agents.  Charlie looked like he was trying to drive the chalk right through the board, as if he could beat the equation into submission. 

Charlie was almost at the bottom of the board, his writing became smaller and smaller 'till he got to the end, wrote = 0 then stopped.  Colby thought it might be safe to fully enter the room when Charlie picked up the bowl of gumballs and tossed it at the board with not inconsiderable force.  Colby jumped at the impact. The board toppled, the bowl shattered, and gumballs went skittering around the room.

Colby pulled the office door closed behind him and locked it.  Whatever this was Charlie probably wouldn't want the staff or students seeing it.  Charlie grabbed a magazine and tossed it in the same direction as the toppled board.  Colby wasn't even sure if Charlie knew he was there.

"Bastard, bastard, bastard." Charlie chanted over and over as he stood in the middle of the room shaking with rage.  Colby didn't dare approach Charlie, instead skirted around him to the board.  He retrieved the magazine hoping to get some idea of what got Charlie so worked up.  He had moved from 'bastard' to a collection of foul language that Colby hadn't heard since he left the army.

It didn't take long to find out what the problem must have been.  There was a letter to the editor entitled '_Error Within the Eppes' Theorem_'.  Colby didn't understand most of the letter.  Just that something brilliant Charlie had done when he was twenty was wrong.  There was a short equation which Colby could see at the top of the split blackboard.  The letter ended with 'My sincere apologies Dr. Eppes - Dr. Alfred Keens.'

Charlie had stopped cussing and stopped shaking. Colby carefully approached.

"Charlie?" Colby reached out and barley laid fingertips on Charlie's shoulder.  Charlie went to the floor and began to cry.  Colby looked around hoping there was someone else hiding in a corner willing to deal with a hysterically sobbing Charlie Eppes.  There was no such luck.  Colby gave another look around to make sure no one was watching, then sat down on the floor and pulled Charlie into his lap.  Charlie didn't seem to mind, just buried his face in Colby's shoulder and kept crying.  Colby sighed and tried to figure out how'd he explain the tear and snot stains on his jacket.

When the wracking tears had reduced to sniffles and hiccups Colby reached into his pocket.  He wished he had a hankie or even some squashed tissue but he had be in a hurry that morning and accidentally stuffed his gun cleaning cloth into his pocket.  He picked the corner least smeared with gun oil and residue and tried to wipe some of the tears from Charlie's cheeks, but really only succeeded in highlighting them with dirty black streaks.

"You ok?" He asked gently.  Charlie closed his eye.

"The bastard, the fucking bastard." He said, but with less venom than before. "He had to publish.  He could of sent me a fucking email, not like he didn't know exactly where I was, he had go publish.  Of course he published. " Charlie said, starting a conversation with himself.  "He hasn't done anything worth two lines of print in years. Bastard!" Charlie looked at Colby. "He spent as much time looking at that damn theorem as I did.  We'd project it on the ceiling so we could just lay in bed and look up at it. It was so beautiful."

_'Ohhhhhhh.'_ Was Colby's thought. _'This isn't jealous fellow mathematician rage, this is jealous ex-lover fellow mathematician rage.'_ Colby found he wasn't as surprised as he should be at the fact that Charlie had an ex-lover named Alfred.

"Can you fix it?" Colby asked.

"Already did." Charlie gestured towards the fallen board. "And far more elegantly than his fix.  Just had to change an _n_ for _n_ prime. They wont even have to reprint the text books.  Just tell the students to make a little tick with their pen in the right place. " Colby looked at a red gumball that had rolled against his leg.

"You ruined you gumball thing."

"Doesn't matter. My students got into the habit of lying about which color they took, trying to screw up my math.  I needed to start again anyways." Charlie looked around and something occurred to him.

"Um...Colby...I'm sitting on your lap?"

"It was a moment of duress."

"I see."

"I got gun oil on your face."

"That's ok.  I got snot on your jacket."  Colby felt the need to give Charlie one more hug.

"It's ok.  I'll tell people it was in the line of duty."


End file.
